Human rights groups have alleged the educators are abusing their authority by engaging in sexual relations with students in exchange for money, good grades, food, or items such as mobile phones and new clothes.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Senegal has acknowledged that sexual violence is a serious problem in its schools.

“However, many teachers are getting away with sexually exploiting and harassing their students, who tolerate sexual offenses to advance in secondary school,” said Elin Martínez, Children’s Rights Researcher at HRW.

She said while the West African country had taken important steps to expand girls’ access to quality education, it needs to step up efforts to protect girls from these abuses and hold teachers responsible for violating professional norms or Senegalese law.

The alleged behavior by teachers is a gross violation of teachers’
professional and ethical obligations, and when victims are below the age of 16, it is a crime under Senegalese law.

Harassment and coercion of students for sexual purposes and the abuse of their power and authority over a child by teachers carries sentences of up to ten years in prison.

“Government needs to end the culture of silence around abuse by teachers, encourage girls to speak out, and send an unequivocal message to all education staff that it will not tolerate sexual violence against students,” Martínez said.